


Martian AU

by burmafrd



Category: The Martian - All Media Types
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27314872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burmafrd/pseuds/burmafrd
Summary: My take on what it should have been.  Worked the science angle a little differently.  Mainly dodging the hurricane wind hand wavium.
Relationships: Chris Beck/Beth Johanssen, Mindy Park/Mark Watney
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Martian AU

**Author's Note:**

> My attempt at making it a little more believable. Probably means its duller. Hey I ain't Andy Weir or even a reasonable facsimile.

NASA planned to have 5 Ares Missions; exploring different parts of MARS.

The HERMES was built to last all 5 plus a good safety margin. Each mission would last approximately 450 Days. Around 200 to get there and back; and up to 100 on Mars. Though it was not planned to have anyone staying beyond 60 days. The last mission would stretch it some; after the experience of the first 4 were examined. Those would all last 30 days on the planet. 

NASA liked to play things safe so a lot of what they would need was sent up prior to Hermes even leaving Earth orbit. The sections of the HAB (where they would live while on Mars) were sent first; then once definite word came they had landed safely came the Rovers, in modules that meant they would have to be assembled.

Once both data and satellite confirmation that all was well only then did Hermes start its 6 month voyage to Mars. This was also a compromise; there was a design that would get the ship there in half the time but the propulsion system was not felt to be as reliable. 

In addition to the normal risks that spaceflight threatened, there was also the factor of cosmic radiation. 

A fortunate accidental invention had taken care of that problem.

Standard plexiglass, when a lead alloy was added, proved to be startlingly resistant to solar radiation.

This was the result of an experiment that got screwed up by the contractor; and ended up being extremely profitable to the corporation.

A further development found that you could manufacture plastic canvas of a rather thick variety using basically the same formula and it had almost as much protection as a 2 inch thick sheet of said plexiglass. It had more lead concentrated in the canvas so it had a higher resistance factor.

The HAB would be made of the plexiglass; for the reason that radiation was not the only threat on Mars. 

What the canvas did allow was temporary shelters that could be used when the Rovers went a long distance from the HAB. Rovers were not very good for sleeping.

This same formula of Plexiglass was placed inside the metal skin of the Hermes and all other vehicles. And the canvas was the under skin of all EVA suits.

Thus the solar radiation problem had been solved. 

Mars atmosphere was only about 1% of Earth which was good in some ways; no windstorm could get strong enough to ever be a hazard; even the dust devils that were common were not a worry unless you were on foot and even then not considered serious. Might knock you down.

Now the dust of Mars was a problem; you had to have extremely good seals to keep it out of everything; and since it had a lot of nasty things in it that meant every time you came inside to the HAB you had to blow it off first in the entrance module.

The only serious threat on Mars was the global dust storms. They actually did reach the level of covering the entire planet and could last months. This would critically affect any solar panels and thus whatever needed solar panel to function was SOL.

The HAB had two latest generation RTG’s loaded with a new combination of radioactive isotopes for more output. They would power it until everything was set up and the solar panels and batteries were ready to go. Then they would be taken out and buried nearby.

Needless to say the HAB had all the latest equipment as regards oxygenator, water reclaimer, CO2 scrubber, etc. It even had the latest and greatest possible microwave oven that used a fraction of the power of consumer models.

Now none of this was cheap; the HERMES cost $15 billion to build and was the most expensive mobile device ever built. 

The entire program cost $30 billion.

It was not an easy sell to Congress or the American people even when we got the Russians and Europeans to kick in. Unfortunately, the Chinese at the time we were working to get this off the ground had a leadership situation so they could not commit. Something that their Space Agency deeply regretted.

However it got done and on July 24, 2025 it was approved.

It took 6 years to build HERMES. 100 launches total; it was built right next to the ISS which was still operational if thought to be on its last legs; supporting the ISS was part of the deal to lengthen its lifetime. IT would be the support station when HERMES was getting overhauled after each mission.

On July 4, 2032 ARES 1 launched. The Heavy Orion shuttle brought the 6 astronauts up to HERMES and 7 days later they headed off to MARS.

The trip took 183 days. 

On January 24, 2033 ARES 1 landed and the crew began to build the HAB and assemble the Rovers. That took one week; and they then spent 25 days on the surface after that doing experiments.

ARES 2 left 2 years after ARES 1. ARES 3 left 2 years after ARES 2. 

By the time the ARES 3 mission was ready to go the people of Earth were acting like they did after Apollo 11. Began to get blasé and ratings and attention dropped.

Annie Montrose, NASA Director of Public Relations, was a caustic, very hard woman. Brutal about everything especially her job and more than that the reporters she dealt with daily.

At a meeting while the ARES 3 crew was being finalized she made her pitch.  
“We need real attention grabbers. The last crew was about as exciting as cold mashed potatoes.”

Teddy Sanders, NASA Director gave her a look.  
“Annie, extremely competent people who can work together and are very psychologically stable are who we are picking. What you want is not likely to qualify.”

Annie, though, had been rather craftily planning. While her influence on crew selection was not great, it was not infinitesimal either. 

She had seen this coming for some time and thus had been examining every single NASA astronaut candidate in the program. She zeroed in on two.

Beth Johannsen.  
At 28 the youngest candidate ever. SYSOP, and reactor tech. A super nerd who just happened to be lovely. Tiny, brunette and very shapely. 

And her real secret weapon:  
Mark Watney.  
A botanist who would be trying to grow crops on Mars and was also a Systems Engineer.  
And a very HANDSOME and telegenic man who was a real live wire and as funny as all get out. Personality out the Yang.

She put out her candidates and the selection committee found no real reason to reject them.

As soon as they were selected Annie had both of them working PR hard. Posters of both were sold like hotcakes. Johannsen was shy but that was fine as Watney just pulled them in like a master Circus Carny.   
Thus ARES 3 got off to a great start. And Watney kept it up; his daily reports from HERMES became a media favorite.

Vincent Kapoor, Mars Mission Director, tweaked her constantly on her Media Whore.

“Fuck you.” Was her standard reply.

The MAV was the vehicle that the astronauts rode down to Mars and would return to HERMES in. It carried them and all the food that they would require on their mission. It would land about 500 meters from the HAB. Its landing stage would remain when they lifted off to return.

The ARES 3 crew landed on September 5, 2036. 

Mars has a day about 40 minutes longer than Earth and thus each day on Mars is called a Sol.

Sol 1 was thus September 5, 2036.

4 Sols after they landed the team tasked with keeping an eye on Mars noted a storm brewing.

One day later it had grown substantially and was not too far from the landing site.

A meeting at NASA that afternoon…

“What do they think?”  
Teddy Sanders asked the meteorological team Leader.

“Sir, we fear this is the beginning of a global storm.”

The one thing that would require a mission scrub.

“How long before it gets to the HAB?”

“48 hours.”

“How long before you can be sure it’s a global storm?”

“Sir we cannot be sure. Sometimes they are slow building; sometimes they come on very quickly.” 

The Director of NASA then turned to Bruce Ng, Director of JPL and thus the person most responsible for vehicles.  
“Bruce, can they launch in a dust storm?”

“NO. Electrostatic energy is way too high; it would be extremely dangerous. In the first hours of one maybe, but that is all.”

Teddy Sanders sighed; but there was really no choice.  
He looked at Mitch Henderson, Flight Director of HERMES.  
“We scrub.”

The storm had other ideas.

The SATCOM crew on duty was looking at each satellite picture with a magnifying glass and were very worried.

Mindy Park, relatively new to the position but already very good at it, had been the first one to spot the beginning of the storm and had been watching it like a hawk ever since.

She was of the opinion that they needed to scrub immediately once it looked like it was heading to the ARES 3 site. Even if it did not in the end become a global dust storm all that flying dust and the electrostatic energy flying around was NOT a good thing. Theoretically if it was not a global the HAB could hunker down and wait it out. BUT the problem even there was that the Solar Panels would lose most of their power if not all of it; and without the RTG’s the batteries there would not last more than 36 hours. Even if they shut everything down but the basics, turned off the heaters and lived in their EVA suits it would only last 72 hours. 

It would be possible to retrieve the RTG’s and plug them back in. 

But they could not take the chance that it was just a local at the time.

Months of the dust storm would scrub most of the mission goals; and no one knew what effect of months of dust storms on the HAB and MAV would be.

Commander Melissa Lewis was a cool cat in all ways. First female Sub commander in USN history. Indeed in the world. On fast track to Admiral when she decided to enter the space program. Thus a natural to command a mission.

The huge disappointment did not even register on her face as she gave the orders to close down and prepare an emergency exit.

Alex Vogel was German, the Chemist and assistant Reactor Tech. From the ESA he was about as phlegmatic as the Commander was. Even he, though, showed disappointment.   
“Yes, Commander.”

Beth Johannsen had been watching the storm and sighed and began to get ready.

Alex Vogel, ships Doctor and EVA expert, just turned and prepared to leave.

Rick Martinez, Pilot and assistant SYSOP shook his head but started to prepare.

Only Mark Watney made a real noise.  
“Damn it all to hell.” Then stood up.  
“I will secure the Weather stations and the Com gear.”

Lewis just nodded.

In two hours they were ready and about to head to the MAV. Only Watney was left finishing off securing the HAB. He was in the entrance way just as the storm hit.

This storm had developed quicker than any in recorded history; expanding at a rate truly unprecedented.

Just as Watney closed the hatch to the HAB visibility dropped to virtually nothing.

Martinez as Pilot had gone to the MAV first to get it ready for emergency takeoff.

The other five would follow. He had taken Rover 1; they would be in Rover 2.

Watney was just about to depressurize the entry way when something happened. It was theorized that the electrostatic energy already everywhere had something to do with it.

The entry way module hyper inflated and then blew; sending it almost 50 feet away from the HAB.

At that moment Mark Watney’s bio monitor quit. And his suit warning was the last signal sent; breach of suit.

Rick Martinez was a close friend to Watney; they had become, along with Bruce Ng, drinking buddies.

When he saw Watney’s readings flatline he was stunned for a second.  
“We have lost Watney!”

Lewis barely had time to look and all she could see was dust. For a long moment she hesitated. But the storm was worsening so quickly she knew there was no choice.

And so the ARES 3 crew left one behind.

There is a 12 minute lag from Mars to Earth. Which complicated lots of things.

This time though, they got the same readings as Martinez in the MAV got.

Shock permeated Mission Control.

Mindy Park, at her desk, bowed her head and cried.

Joined by many others.

It was a very somber crew that left the planet. 

Commander Lewis was one of those that believed you never left anyone behind. So this was an especially bitter pill for her to swallow.

When you added to it that Mark Watney was truly the crew favorite and did so much to lighten things up and make the hard times bearable they all were deeply affected. 

Martinez did not have time to mourn; it was the hairiest ride he had ever been on; let alone pilot.

The electrostatic energy shocks were playing havoc with the instruments and for a time it did look bad as regards getting back to the HERMES.

While this validated the decision for the emergency abort, it was cold comfort to all.

Teddy Sanders had been Director of NASA for 7 years, seven of the greatest years in its history; perhaps only surpassed or equaled by the Apollo years.

Now he was paying the price for his position.

Turning away from the screens at Mission Control that told the sad story he looked at Mitch Henderson and Mitch Kapoor. They were both in shock and deeply depressed.  
“I will go to Chicago. Get the jet ready for immediate flight.” He turned to the Mission Control Flight Director.  
“Lock the door; we are in lockdown.”

It was the middle of the night; just after 1 AM Eastern. 

In the ruined entry way module, Mark Watney’s body laid. At an angle. Up against the broken support strut that had smashed his bio monitor and punctured his suit.

The puncture, however, was not large. It had set off the suit alarm but it was not yet critical.

Mark Watney stirred. Shaking his head slowly; a possible concussion went through his thoughts. Then the warning beep got his attention. He carefully moved while placing a hand over the puncture; there was definite pain there. 

He looked around; turning on his flood light. This was not used except in emergency situations since it drained the suit battery quickly.

His com was silent. Nothing. He called out anyway. No response.

He groaned as he stood up and headed out. He could just barely see the rotating flashing light on top of the HAB. He blinked; he had forgotten to shut that off.

Now it might just save his life.

He staggered and then managed to step out of the mess that the entry way module had become. Then headed to the #2 entry way module that he was able to identify as he got closer to the HAB.

Staggering into the HAB, he quickly turned on the emergency power that would be a minimal strain on the batteries.

He was alone. And he had a very bad idea on what had happened.

He had been abandoned; and with the lights in the HAB now on, even lower than usual as emergency lights, he could see that his BIO monitor was smashed. And with it his com gear as well. HE stood there and thought on that. They all had extra EVA suits as part of the standard Issue. He would need to use his.

That did not help the fact that he was alone on MARS.

He just knew it.

Habit had him take off his EVA suit and patch himself up; that was VERY painful. Then he started to fully power up the HAB and stopped. He had only so much battery time. He turned on the heaters at minimal setting; and put on all the clothes he could scrounge and all the blankets in the HAB for his bed. Then he fell into a depressed, exhausted sleep. 

There was one other result of the entry way destruction. It had clipped the south corner of the HAB, if barely in its flight.

Just enough to destroy the Satellite Com Dish.

Mark Watney was trapped and without any way to communicate to the HERMES or NASA.

That joyful news awaited him when he got up the next morning; or whatever it was. 

Not that being cut off mattered. Even if he stretched out and rationed to the max, at most he was looking at starving to death in about a year. 

And it would take at least 2 years for the HERMES to come back.

And he had no way to tell anyone he was alive; and if this dust storm lasted several months then by the time he might be able to do something it would be too late to even send an emergency supply drop.

He stared out a window at the bleak dark; it was daylight but it might as well be night.

He sat there and powered up the HAB computer. And began a Log entry.

“This is Mark Watney. It is Sol 8 and I am alive. Surprise.”

He kept at it with a little of his old snark but mostly a dead pan delivery from a walking dead man.

Then signed off and got something to eat.

And while he ate he thought.

And decided he would not just lay down and die.

He knew where the RTG’s were buried since he had been with Vogel when they had done it. Only a kilometer away. There was a flag marking the spot; any luck at all and he would find them.

Luck.

He snorted at that.

At what was about noon that day he suited up and began the walk to the Rovers. It was not quite as bad as it had been; with his extra batteries that he had on his back he was able to keep the flood light on. The special compass they had for Mars would not let him deviate and it was only 500 meters anyway.

He got in Rover 1 and headed to where the RTG’s were.

It took him almost half an hour to find the flag but he did.

The back of the rover had a small crane; and he used it to put each RTG (which weighed almost 50 KGs) on the back deck of the Rover.

By late afternoon he had the RTG’s hooked up to the HAB and once again full power was restored. 

It had been a tiring day and he flopped into his bunk and went to sleep early.

The next morning he made another log entry as regards the RTG’s and his careful counting of the food left.

“I have enough without rationing to last 390 days. I can probably go to about 60% and survive; that means I can stretch it out to around Sol 625. And HERMES with ARES 4 will not be back on Mars until almost a full year after that. And I have no way of letting NASA know I am alive. There is little chance the Satellites can see much of anything. And I have no way to communicate with anything.”

Still he was not giving up.

“As much as possible I am going to complete all the experiments left; and do all I can to preserve any data that I generate.”

One week after the disaster, an official funeral was given to Mark Watney at Arlington. The President attended and many others.

Teddy Sanders gave a speech that said the expected; at how honored they had been that Mark Watney had been part of the program and that NASA would carry on in his memory.

IT was all very dignified and somber. 

Like many others at Mission Control Mindy Park forced herself to watch. Her lip curled at the speeches; typical political BS.

She had never met Mark Watney; but all said the same thing:

What a guy.

On the HERMES the somber mood was unrelenting; finally three days after the funeral she called the remaining crew together.

“Everyone needs to get their heads back in the mission. We cannot afford to screw up. We need to maintain our discipline. Mark is gone; I mourn him as we all do but he would KICK our butts if he saw us as we are now.”

Martinez managed a smile.  
“Yeah, he would.”

And they finally began to deal.

On his 4th day in exile as he called it, Mark got THE IDEA.

He was a botanist.

Damn it act like one.

Searching the food stores he had found a white metal box that said  
‘Thanksgiving’

It was not on the manifest.

He opened it up and went through it. A Thanksgiving Dinner; processed Turkey and vegetables and even desert; pumpkin pie.

And potatoes.

Not freeze dried or flash dried.

Potatoes that would make other potatoes.

And digging down at the very bottom he found raw carrots in sealed packets; and peas and celery and lettuce and TOMATOES.

HE stared at the items and looked around.

He had room.

Now he needed fertilizer; and he looked at the MAB toilet and smiled.

But he also needed a lot more water than the reclaimer would get him.

His brief moment of elation disappeared.

He sat and stared at them then put them away.

He checked all the laptops left for entertainment; he had been a doofus and left his stick on the HERMES as regards entertainment.

Sadly, there was not much on any of the computers.

Except Commander Lewis’s.

1970’s Disco music and TV shows.

The groan he let out echoed across the empty HAB.

The storm continued; but the meteorologists noted that it was not quite covering the planet; it seemed to be running out of steam. Which was unheard of; once a global storm reached the stage it was in it kept on. 

No one really cared now, of course.

Mindy was one of those that for some reason kept up on it; some kind of morbid interest she figured.

Three weeks after the storm began it started to fade away. In another week it had dissipated around the ARES 3 site.

Given how close the launch of the MAV to HERMES had come to destruction, there had been some talk about the decision to leave being possibly hurried.

However as more data came out it was admitted even by those looking for any excuse to criticize NASA that there really was no choice.

Even the unexpected fading of the global dust storm did not start it up again.

On Sol 10 Mark was thinking on how he could possibly get more water and it hit him. He thought on it.

And it had to be the craziest, most dangerous idea in NASA history.

BUT if it worked he would have more than enough water to grow EVERYTHING.

By using the pop up tents(there were four of them, two to each rover) which were 3 meters square each, thus giving him an additional 36 square meters to add to the 90 square meters in the HAB he had room to grow his crops. The first ones in would be seed crops; to generate seeds for the real crops to come. One seed crop of each would give him 4 sets of seeds; he could do 4 crops of each. Now he could not grow one crop after another; but by rotation with one period of fallow for each area he planted he could grow enough to keep him alive for nearly 2 years.

Using the shit from the toilet (freeze dried) mixed with water for each plant that would give the soil he got from Mars all it needed for the plants to grow.

At least he believed so. And since he would keep shitting, obviously, he would steadily be resupplying his fertilizer. Though not as fast as he was using it. He would have to be very careful indeed.

Everything he did would have to be seriously looked at and then looked at again.

He had no margin for error.

His plan for water was this:

There was still a lot of Hydrazine in the lower stage of the MAV. Martinez had been right on target and had used less than expected. For every kilogram of Hydrazine he could process sufficiently to produce one liter of water.

The problem was how that had to be done.

By burning the hydrazine carefully. Thus producing both water and hydrogen. And he would have to be very careful to burn off the hydrogen. Thus he needed two separate fires going.

Not a big deal of course.

He had thought of doing this in the pop tents; but they were not big enough; and he needed a very controlled atmosphere to pull this off at all.

Meantime he had to, all by himself, keep all the systems of the HAB and the Rovers going as well. And the experiments he was still determined to finish.

So his days were rather well filled.

Thus he really did not notice the slow dissipation of the storm. 

Until he really noticed how clear it was getting.

Thus he would soon, be able to put away the RTG’s. And just rely on the Solar Panels.

He thought on that.

And decided he would keep the RTG’s there but use the Solar Panels. Never knew when a dust storm would hit.

On Sol 41 he cleaned the solar panels.

Sol 17 was when he began the water generation.

And blew himself hallway across the HAB when he forgot to account for the oxygen he was breathing out.

Luckily he only singed his face a little since he had been wearing goggles.

But he was able to by Sol 31 plant his crops. He had taken emergency lights and run cables to the pop tents and thus they would be lit all the time; just like the HAB. Shortening the growing cycle significantly.

Now if he could only get used to the smell.

Mindy like those still watching noted that on Sol 39 the area around the ARES 3 site was all but clear. 

The Director of NASA had made it very clear that no pictures would be taken of that site. It was possible that Mark Watney’s body might be visible and he wanted no part of the PR disaster that would become.

Things for NASA were shaky enough. Many people were questioning whether any more missions were truly necessary considering they had already lost one astronaut and the hair raising launch of the MAV had almost cost the whole crew.

So far that was not yet serious; the argument that you could not quit when there was still so much that could be done so far had carried the day. But Teddy Sanders wanted to take no chances.

The ARES 4 HAB and Rover probes were holding in orbit until the dust storm was clearly over. He gave the order for them to land on Sol 40. They were down safely on Sol 42. 

“There are supplies there for a full mission. The HAB should be fine. We can reroute ARES 4 there and it would be much cheaper for ARES 5.”  
Vincent Kapoor confronted Teddy Sanders on Sol 45.

When Sanders still proved intransigent, he put it this way.

“We can use the MRO. Its relatively low resolution. So no details like his body will be easily seen.”

Seeing he was making progress he brought up the big gun.

“And we could either bring Mark’s body back for burial on earth or make a formal grave for him on Mars. Having talked some to the Watney’s, I think they might prefer that.” He paused.  
“That would give the mission some gravitas, would it not?”

Mindy liked the night shift; fewer people bothered her and she could do her work easier.

So at 1 AM on the morning of October 19, 2036 Mindy got an email from Vincent Kapoor.

He figured that early Sunday morning was the best time to do this; it was just after dawn at the site but this time of week no one would probably notice. And less notice all around. 

Mindy blinked at the coordinates that he had sent her.

“41.45 X 172.65”  
And to use the MRO

She froze as she recognized those numbers. They were burned into her brain.

She hesitated; technically Kapoor did not have this authority. The Director had made it VERY clear no pictures of ARES 3. 

She decided not to get into the middle of it. He was several levels above her and had sent the order. No one could blame her.

And deep inside she was ashamed to admit she was curious.

It took an hour to get the MRO repositioned; one had to be very careful about dealing with the old probe; it was pushing 30. Way beyond any reasonable life expectancy.

Then it was done.

Mindy stared at the file. Then taking a deep breath opened it. Technically she could just send it to Kapoor. But she had to see.

She stared at the picture.

For several minutes. Then reloaded it to be absolutely sure. Then even though she knew the answers she checked the mission logs. 

Then she picked up her phone.

Kapoor stared at the picture. Then turned to her.  
“How fast can we get a real good picture?”

“Under an hour.”

“Do it.”

Then he made a call.

Teddy Sanders stood in street clothes; very different from his normal three piece suit.

“How sure are you?”

Kapoor looked at him.  
“100 percent.”

“Show me.”

Mindy pointed out that the two Rovers were now parked at the HAB. When they had been used to get the crew to the MAV. Then the POP UP tents which had not been used yet and supposedly were still stored in the HAB. Clean Solar Panels when they should be as dirty as all get out.

And Mindy pointed out one more thing. Mars Curiosity Probe had the best resolution and she was able to home in on part of the HAB.  
“The RTG’s.”

Teddy Sanders stood there and thought. He looked at Annie Montrose.  
“We have 24 hours to release this, right?”

She nodded; for once quiet.

“We will release a statement with the bare bones and that we are looking at the situation.”

She sighed.  
“You do know the shitstorm that is coming? Hello world; we left a live guy on Mars. You know, the fun loving happy guy that we just had a real fancy funeral for? Sorry?”

Teddy gritted his teeth and glared at her.  
“Just get it done.”

He sighed.  
“And with the positioning of Mars we will play hell getting a supply probe to him before he starves.”

No one there said a word.

Annie put out the press statement at 11PM that evening.

And the world erupted.

ORBITAL mechanics limited the windows to send probes to MARS. Every two years at the present time a window opened for about 2 months. Right after the HERMES left earth orbit the next missions HAB, and Rovers, were launched. 6 in all. 

So ARES 4 had all its equipment there. IF they did indeed decide to reuse ARES 3 supplies, HAB and rovers it would be used for ARES 5. Actually saving money if they kept the missions at 5 total. 

Now of course it was very clear that everything was up in the air. ARES 3 was being used if only by one astronaut. So the rationale for that was gone. ARES 4 landing site was 3200 KM from ARES 3.

The other thing that had been noticed of course was the destruction of the HAB com dish. 

“There is no way to talk to Mark or even let him know we know he is alive?”

The looks around the room from the various techs and directors told the story to the Director of NASA.

Mindy was at her desk that night when Kapoor wandered in. She looked at him.  
“Why are you still here?”

He shrugged and sat down next to her.  
“Feel so damn helpless. No way to talk to Mark; let him know we are working to resupply him.”

Mindy cocked her head; the skepticism clear.  
“I know. We are already working on a supply mission but we have to build it from scratch. That will take months; and then we are in a lousy position to launch. We are looking at almost 9 months of mission time to MARS with a probe we do not really know how to land near him.”

Mindy closed her eyes and sighed.  
“He would need to ration to make it that far and if he does not think we know he will have no reason to.”

Kapoor grimly nodded.

Mindy sat there for a while after Kapoor left. 

She checked by habit the 12 Mars satellites. And then stared at the control board. Then sent an email to Kapoor.

He was back in an hour.

“Constant Satellites overhead – I think that is the best way we can let him know we know.”

Kapoor nodded.

At a meeting the next day that Mindy attended Teddy Sanders looked at her.

“I am giving you complete control of all Mars satellites. Constant surveillance of ARES 3.”

“Yes sir.”

Sol 89 came and Mark began to harvest his first crops. Everything had gone better than expected. He now had seeds for the others and a full crop of Potatoes. He would be able to eat a quarter of that and still have more than enough potatoes to plant for a full crop. And he kept some sealed up in bags aboard Rover 2 as a hedge against disaster.

Meanwhile what he was doing with the pop ups had everyone climbing the walls.

“What the HELL is he doing with them?”

Mindy sighed; it was not the first time Kapoor had growled this.

Sol 93 and he had finished all harvesting and replanting; rotating every crop. He would fallow one section next time. 

He had just finished the last pop up; groaning. He had to remain suited as he went into each one that he had hooked together – all at entrance 2. They were flimsy and he frankly did not want to risk going in there without his EVA. He had to four times a day open the door of entrance 2 to give fresh air to the pop ups. The lights were special floods and not LED’s; they gave off sufficient heat to keep the pop ups warm. 

He noted that the Solar Panels did not give off enough power to run all those floods and everything else early on. He had to keep one of the RTG’s hooked up and since there was no reason not to he kept them both going.

He was not sure why he kept cleaning the solar panels as with both RTG’s he really did not need them. Even with the floods on all the time. But it was an extra boost of power and he figured why not?

He went out of Entrance way 3 as he had for so long. He had carefully inspected it as he did with #2 to make sure nothing was going wrong like #1 had.

He had decided to inspect them monthly.

As he went outside it was in the afternoon; there was about 3 hours of daylight left.

Mindy was staring at the sat pictures of Mark cleaning the solar panels.  
‘Please Mark look up.’

And for once a prayer was answered.

Mark Watney casually looked up and stopped.

There were two satellites overhead.

He stared at them for over a minute. Then elation hit him; NASA knew he was alive!

He looked around and saw a number of rocks.

And built a greeting.

“Hi NASA”

Mindy was crying. So was Vincent. 

Mark went back in and ate his dinner and then hit the sack early. After a rather amusing log entry.

“Well they know I am alive. Wonder how long? Probably should do a dance or something for them. Need to make a real impression.”

Mark went out the next morning and gathered more rocks.

By now a number of people were watching.

All over the world as NASA put it out there live.

Mindy had been able to set the sats up so that there was at most a 4 minute gap.

So much of the world watched as Mark Watney began to make another rock message.

‘Growing crops. Sol 730’ 

He knew with rationing he could extend that a fair amount but chose not to say so. Sol 730 was the approximate arrival date for ARES 4.

Now of course the whole world was wondering how in the hell Mark Watney was growing crops on Mars.

Where did he get the seeds? Water? It was figured out pretty quickly what the fertilizer would be.

And now they could see why the pop up tents. 

It took almost a week for NASA to find out about the Thanksgiving package as it was unofficial. So now they knew where he was getting the seeds.

Water took a little longer.

Mark had to tell them.

After 10 days Mark decided to tweak the world and spelled  
‘HYDRAZINE’

And a fair number of the Safety People at NASA flipped their lids.

A major comedian then proclaimed  
“Mark Watney is the BAD ASS of all BAD ASSSES!”

Mindy had been anointed as Mark Watney’s official watcher. She happily jumped into the assignment, altering her shift so that she was there when Mark was up and she slept when he slept. She was given a small office not so much to do her paperwork, etc as to have a nice little cot to sleep on. Since there were actually showers in the rather fancy bathrooms at Mission Control she usually only went home once a week to do laundry and other things; outside of that she was always at Mission Control.

Meanwhile Mark, while happy that NASA knew he was alive and would stay that way until ARES 4 arrived had to think on things.

He had to find a way for him to talk to NASA and vice versa. And how to modify a Rover so that he could make the trip to the Schiaparelli Crater where ARES 4 would land. 3200 KM away. That was too far away for the Rover to go. Without extra facilities the maximum time you could spend in the rover was 3 days. And his EVA suit was only good for 1 day. Then he had to charge it. 

The Rover’s range was only 35 KM before the battery went dead. Now you could take solar panels with you and it would take most of a Mars day to recharge. The power problems were pretty clear. 

Meanwhile he had to keep everything going. If the Oxygenator died; he died; if the Water Reclaimer died; he died. True he had made some water but it would be a choice of dying of thirst or starving.

It went without saying that if the MAB breached (as it very nearly had once) unless he was in his EVA suit and helmet on he was dead.

So the constant threat of death hovered over his head every waking moment; and it was no surprise that he was having nightmares.

The Psychologists NASA had working for them made those points to Teddy Sanders and the senior Directors.

“This is a constant weight on him. Every waking moment it will be at the back of his mind. This kind of mental strain is cumulative.”

With the time to actually think on what to do the work on the resupply probe had temporarily stopped in some areas. The actual preparation of the probe continued but what to put in it became a real debate.

“He is going to need mundane things like clothes and soap and shampoo and so on. More regular rations to supplement his crops. A new communication dish he can put on the HAB so that we can talk to him again. Everything we can fit in there that will help him survive and get to ARES 4.”

Kapoor made that point. Now the details had to be thrashed out. With this extra time they could figure a better way to place it near him then the rather hurried almost crash landing idea they had been forced to use earlier. Now they could better direct it and soft land it approximately a kilometer from the HAB.

Planning ahead Bruce and the JPL people were looking at how to modify the Rover for such a long journey.

Power was the first consideration. For such a journey the oxygenator and water reclaimer would be necessary. They required a fair amount of power by themselves. Then there was the rover motors and cabin heater. 

IT was admitted that both RTG’s would have to be used. And the second rover as well. Watney would need some room to sleep and with both pieces of equipment in the rover there was no room. 

Bruce explained it to the NASA higher ups at a video conference. 

“The Oxygenator and Water Reclaimer use up most of a RTG by themselves; about 85%. The Rover motors will use up about 40% of one. Now after thinking it over carefully we can put the RTG’s in the Rover cabins. They will remove the need to use the cabin heaters. As a matter of fact Watney will need to remove the insulation in the cabins or they would cook him out. What we will do is remove the seats and other equipment from Rover 2. It will be his living area. Thus the Water Reclaimer and Oxygenator will be there as well. Just enough room left over for him to put his mattress from the HAB down. What will be a lot of work is the wiring. And he will need to bring one oxygen tank from the HAB. And we will have to be able to run lines from the oxygenator outside the Rover so as to fill that tank for the other rover. The good news is that by using both RTG’s he will have enough power where he will not need any solar panels. In the end wiring and running the oxygen lines will be the hardest things to do.”

Mitch Henderson sighed as he looked over the specs.  
“He will be eating cold meals the entire trip.”

Bruce shrugged.  
“No real room for the Microwave which is pretty big.”

“What will the range be?”

“Pulling the other rover will lower the range; we must use the batteries; cannot hook the RTG’s up directly due to the voltage differences. Right now we are only estimating; he will need to do some test runs to figure out the actual range. We are thinking probably around 150 KMs a day. So it will take at least 22 days to get to Schiaparelli.” 

“Would using some solar power panels mounted on the Rovers make a real difference?”

Bruce shook his head.  
“Not worth the effort. We can put only 4 panels on each rover; and they would maybe add 25 KMs of range each day. And mounting them would be a real pain; the alternative is to bring them, then stop and let them charge the batteries. In the end they are just not worth it.”

“Is there any danger from the RTG’s to Watney being he will be within a few meters of them virtually the whole time?” 

“No. The actual radioactive elements are inside two separate containers; the outside and each pellet is containerized as well. Plus we can have him wrap the two RTG’s in HAB Canvas; the same as the pop up tents consist of. That would be a further shield.”

Mindy sat in on all these meetings; she had realized that in a lot of ways she was being positioned as someone who would always be in Mark’s corner. She took copious notes and thought over everything.

The biggest problem NASA had was the fact that they could not contact Watney. Without a Com Dish, nothing was going to make it anywhere. The Rovers had only a short range radio; only about 20 KMs range. 

One had even brought up the idea of Watney going to Pathfinder, bringing it back and maybe getting it to work. That was shot down since it would take at least 20 days round trip and that meant leaving the crops unattended; and once again he would have to take the oxygenator and water reclaimer with him. Maybe not the water reclaimer but certainly the oxygenator. And then there was the power problem.

“The Solar Panels have to be cleaned every day. So he would have to leave the RTG’s behind. Problem is that he would have to spend virtually all day each day recharging the batteries. Drive only at night. Which is NOT a good idea at all.”

“Also he would have to leave entranceway 2 open to the pop up tents which is a serious concern.”

“What about waiting until he harvested and then do it?”

That idea got some attention; it would fit in rather neatly. Problem was of course they could not tell Mark all of this.

Mark was well aware of the need to talk to NASA and for them to talk to him. Not to mention the isolation; he knew it was getting to him. He never used to talk too much to himself; now he did it all the time.

After carefully looking at the mess that the entranceway module had made of the HAB comm system he was aware that nothing could be done there.

He needed some kind of satellite dish. Which is more than just a dish shaped piece of metal. IF that was all he needed he was quite confident he could fabricate something. But the electronic components were a whole other story. They had been as smashed as the dish.

HE thought about all the satellites that were now watching him. Maybe a dozen in all from the very old MRO to Curiosity. Amazing how the MRO was still chugging along at 30+ years old. The great majority of the probes and sats that had been sent to Mars had either failed rather quickly or gone way beyond their life expectancy. The vast majority the later.

He wondered if the life expectancy was deliberately under stated to make them look better?

He had gotten rather more cynical about many things as the years had gone by; despite his outward demeanor as the happy go lucky type. In some ways it had become a habit in order to disguise his darker thoughts. 

He was a bit amused as he realized that some of what was still working on or around Mars was older than Johannsen. He sighed, thinking of his crewmates. He wondered what they thought of all this. He hoped they were not feeling guilty about leaving him behind; but he bet they were.

Teddy had delayed letting the ARES 3 team know that Watney was alive while he consulted the Psychologists. Mitch was livid about this.

“Are they adults that we respect or are they children we lead by the hand?”  
Was his bitter rejoinder to the order to keep it from them.

However despite the best efforts of NASA the ARES 3 team found out.

Beth Johanssen hacked at times out of boredom; she had been a hacker since she was 11. She had actually hacked into the NSA at 14 and had received a rather stern visit from Homeland Security that really did not please her parents.

However while they were not happy they stunned everyone by asking Beth to show how it was done and what her methods were. She became at 14 a paid consultant to Homeland Security. So her entrance into MIT at 17 was no surprise at all. Her going to NASA disappointed the NSA at first but she showed just how well she was at multi tasking by continuing to help them out catching other hackers and beefing up the NSA’s computer security.

NASA’s computer security was very good; amongst the best in the world. Beth had occasionally helped them out; but had stopped once she became an astronaut candidate. But she kept an eye on things. 

And she noticed that there were deletions and editing on what was allowed to get to the Hermes. NASA was hiding something.

And she was going to find out; without them knowing what she was up to.

It only took her a few days to find out.

Teddy Sanders was about ready to let ARES 3 know when Beth Johannsen found out and told the rest of the crew.

A rather angry email from Commander Lewis hit Mitch Henderson.

“Mark Watney is alive and you did not tell us. Are we children or do you not trust us?”

Teddy Sanders sighed.   
“Alright Mitch you were right. I should not have listened to the Psychologists on this.”

“Teddy, we should not be giving them the veto power we have been. Commander Lewis is right; are they adults or not? If not what are they doing there and if so why are we treating them with such disrespect?”

Meanwhile the guilt on Hermes was thick enough to cut it with a knife.

Commander Lewis was especially angry with herself.  
“I should have checked him. It would only have taken a few minutes at most.”

However Martinez was adamant.  
“Commander, another few minutes might have killed us.”

None of them liked the fact that NASA had basically lied to them; the lack of trust shown really got to them. And they began to let that be known in many small ways from that point on. Lewis noted it but deliberately took no action. NASA deserved this; and just maybe they would learn their lesson.

Mitch sighed as he looked at Kapoor.  
“It is a bunch of little things but put them all together and it is very clear that the ARES 3 crew do not exactly trust NASA right now.”

Kapoor sighed; he had been more on Teddy’s side on this and he saw how badly it had all blown up. And the cutting remarks about NASA treating the astronauts as children hit home.

Mitch continued.  
“Just look at the contracts all the candidates have to sign. They are basically indentured servants, Vincent.”

Kapoor had never really looked at this; and deliberately went and got a copy and looked at it.

And found himself more than a little sick. Mitch was right. On his mothers side he descended from slaves. And indentured servitude was not far from slavery.

So Teddy found now that he was getting it from both Mitch and Vincent as regards telling the crew everything.

Mark’s musing on old Mars Probes came as he was looking at a map on the computer of what was on Mars as regards probes and rovers and so on. Ares 1 and 2 were as far away as Ares 4 so getting their com dishes was out.

Nothing else was close; even the old Vikings landers were a long way away. And tech that old was probably worthless anyway.

Pathfinder.

He blinked. Where was it?

It took him a while; he had to go through all the crew’s laptops before (as he should have expected) he found the location on Johannsen’s. The little nerd had a couple of VERY interesting ADULT games on it. He had missed them the first time he had looked at her laptop. 

HE got the location and then checked it on the map versus where he was.

IT was just 400 KMs away.

Now he sat back and contemplated an attempt to retrieve it. 

The rover’s batteries would only last 35 KMs. If the heater was off double that to 70 kms. And it would take all the panels he could carry a full day to recharge. Meaning driving at night. Not a good idea.

He carefully checked the rovers power requirement. IF he just took one RTG and put some solar panels on the back of the Rover he might just be able to make it. The RTG would give him all the heat he needed.

He sat back and though on things. Fact was he would have to be gone for at least a week. Could he dare leave the HAB unoccupied that long? IT would mean leaving the Hatch to the pop up tents open. He really did not like that.

Then he thought on a way to do it.

He would be harvesting starting on Sol 167. He would spread that over a week. And then he could shut down everything. And take both RTG’s with him. Leave the solar panels hooked up to the heater. He did some math and tried to figure out if that would keep the temp in the HAB above freezing. If he took both Oxygen tanks from the HAB he would have enough for the trip. If he left half the floods on in the pop ups that should keep them from freezing. The insulation in the HAB was pretty good; and the solar rays heated it fairly well during the day; the roof of the HAB was black to absorb as much as possible. 

He would put the batteries from Rover 2 in the hab. That would extend the HAB’s ability to remain warm.

As long as the temps did not get too far below freezing the soil should be reasonably fine. To be blunt he had enough shit to restart the HAB soil if necessary. Though that might impact down the line.

All this to get a 40 year old probe that might not work. But it was his only real hope of talking to NASA at all.

Along with the other back up materials there were several cans of CO2 absorbing chemicals. He would take them along for the ride using them instead of the CO2 scrubbers. He needed to preserve them as much as possible for the trip to ARES 4. 

“He is doing something with both Rover 1 and 2.”  
Mindy told Kapoor when he responded to her email and came down to her cubby hole at Mission Control.  
“I think he is preparing for a long trip.”

“Is he really thinking of going to Schiaparelli?” 

“That does not make sense. Unless he wants to try and assemble the HAB and live there until ARES 4 arrives?”

“There is no way a single person can assemble a HAB.” Kapoor was very definite on that.

The fascination with Watney and what he was going through and what he was doing had a great deal of the world watching his every move. Since NASA by law had to release any pictures taken to the public within 24 hours a huge industry had developed of people going over each picture with a fine toothed comb and a magnifying glass.

Teddy Sanders made it very clear he would not be happy if someone out there noticed something that NASA had missed so every single photo from every single satellite was looked over VERY closely.

So within a day everyone was speculating on what he was doing.

Mark had early on accepted that the sats would be watching his every move and that a whole lot of people would be speculating. He had no idea of the scope, though.

On Sol 191 he set off.

He had been seen installing the oxygen tank and taking the RTG’s to rover 1. And putting one inside and one on the deck. Hooking them both apparently to the Rover batteries. All that made sense. The Tank would be needed for any trip lasting beyond 3 days.

He had also been seen to take the batteries from Rover 2 and put them inside the HAB. 

After that Annie Montrose put out NASA’s opinion.

“He is taking a fairly long trip; probably lasting at most a week. That is how long one oxygen tank from the HAB will last him in the Rover. The batteries from Rover 2 were hooked into the HAB batteries. We believe he will use them to power the HAB heater to keep it as warm as possible while he is gone. We think he just harvested the crops and is doing this before he plants the next ones. A freeze is not really a problem; but a freeze at MARS night time would be. Between the batteries and the solar panels we believe he can be gone as long as 10 days before the temperature in the MAB gets close to danger for the soil of the crops.”

Mark headed off and right away everyone was tracing his path.

It only took 3 days for people to figure it out.

Vincent got it a few moments before Mindy did.

Annie made the announcement just an hour before others around the world were proclaiming that Mark Watney was going after Pathfinder.

Mindy had right away put a sat in orbit over where Pathfinder was. It was a middling Sat and its resolution was good enough to see that Pathfinder had to be completely buried; which was no surprise after almost 40 years.

Everyone figured out that Watney was going to try and use pathfinder to talk to NASA.

Kapoor was off two days later to JPL where the pathfinder prototype was in storage.

Without being asked a number of old Pathfinder techs showed up to help; all in their 70’s and 80’s. But all still pretty sharp.

It was dragged out and powered up and they waited. Watney had gotten to the site and after a couple of hours wandering around had found the parachute and traced it to the probe. Another two hours of digging and he had unearthed not only Pathfinder but all were surprised to see Sojourner next to it.

The old techs on Pathfinder reminded everyone that the primary programing of Sojourner was to return to Pathfinder if it shut down.

Once dug out enough Mark brought the loading crane on the Rover to the probe and carefully loaded it on the back of the rover. Sojourner he put inside the cab.

3 days later after being gone for a total of almost 8 he was back at the HAB. The Temp was down to the 40’s inside but it had not gotten to freezing so Mark was quite content.

He spent the next three days planting his second crop before starting on Pathfinder.

He had hope that Sojourner would come to life in the warmth of the HAB but so far nothing. 

Pathfinder was too big and heavy to bring into the HAB so he had to do all the work outside; and of course the sat dish on it had to be outside to work anyway.

He pulled the side panel off and checked for any obvious damage. Then pulled one of the Rover batteries from the HAB and hooked it up to the probe. He was glad that NASA had decreed 24 volts DC as its common use since the late 70’s so outside of changing the plug (not as hard as one might think) it was good to go.

He gave it some time and then activated it. Then sat in the sun and relaxed in a chair he had brought out from the HAB. He dozed for a while; it was nice to be doing nothing for a change.

All of this was of course noted by the satellites.

Everyone waited.

One hour after the battery was plugged in the electronics had warmed up to the point where they began to work. 

Pathfinder woke up.

Dozing, Mark lazily glanced at the probe and saw the lights on. Jerking up he got up just as….

Millions of miles away….

The old tech on the command screen called out  
“Signal Acquired!”

Then sent a signal for the camera to rise and activate.

Mark Watney stared as the probe camera raised up on its pole and locked in place. He walked over to stand in front of it.

Then smiling he managed to put his right hand in the Vulcan sign of greeting.

12 minutes later millions of people around the world were laughing their asses off.

One of the old techs howled out

“LIVE LONG AND PROSPER” and they all cheered.

Mark had prepared a board with writing on it. He now put it in front of the camera.

“Was knocked out and injured in the entranceway. Bio monitor punctured; as well as suit a bit. Do not blame crew- they thought I was dead.”

At JPL Kapoor read this and sighed. Good news for the crew. That would settle that BS once and for all. He turned to the tech.  
“Waggle the camera.”

Mark saw the camera waggle and then put the other sign in front of it. This one he had just realized the evening before.  
“Will set up a hexadecimal around the probe.”  
On the next sign he put a picture he had drawn of the hexadecimal he was going to put up.

Super Nerd Beth Johannsen had it on her laptop.

15 different symbols in a circle around the rover. By putting a small pointer on the camera head he would know exactly where it was pointing at any one time. 

Two hours later NASA sent their first message to him.

At JPL someone had figured out how to reprogram the rover’s com system to talk to Pathfinder. 

It took another two hours for all the instructions.

He got them just as it was getting dark.

He could hardly wait for the next morning. Even just typing on a screen to someone would make so much difference.

The last few days once again interest in the whole situation had skyrocketed; and the fact that it was only the middle of the week helped out.

It took Mark two hours to reprogram the Rover and then he sent his first message.

He had thought a fair amount about it.

“So far so good as regards living on Mars. Not as hard as one might think. Just very lonely. Found myself talking to myself. Which is ok as long as there are no answers.”

Around the world people cried and laughed at the same time.

Once that was over Vincent who was doing this began to ask questions.

“We need to know what rations you have left and how much you have planted. The nutritionists want to be able to figure out the best diet for you.”

Mark had anticipated this and had the information right there. 

After that he was asked for more details on his wound. Then his general condition.

This went on for over 4 hours before Vincent told him enough for the day.

One hour after that another meeting was held at NASA.

“To summarize, Mark is in very good shape overall. Physically. Mentally he seems to be coping but the shrinks are going to be going over everything he sent before they say anything.” Kapoor summarized.

Sanders nodded.  
“His crops.”

“Really a varied mix. Potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, celery and peas.”

Sanders shook his head.  
“Amazing.”

“He has planted his first real crop though he has been able to supplement his rations with Potatoes since Sol 79. The nutritionists believe that he can make his rations last with his crops until well after sol 730 without rationing. The Doctors all want to avoid that if at all possible.”

Sanders sat and considered.  
“So we have a good leeway until we have to supply him.”

Kapoor nodded.  
“Realistically one could say don’t bother. However the nutritionists and the shrinks think that getting things like more clothes and so on will be a big moral booster to him and help him remain healthier.”

Sanders nodded.

Mitch put his two cents in.  
“We need to get him the extras as soon as we safely can.”

And Kapoor really put it out there.  
“We need to be able to do more than just type to each other. And who knows how long Pathfinder will continue to work. Its over 40 years old.”

Sanders nodded.  
“Communications will be the primary concern with the probe. That and whatever he might need to prepare for the trip to ARES 4.” He looked at Bruce on the screen.  
“How soon can we send the probe?”

“The capsule is done. We are tweaking the landing system but that will be ready soon. Probably a week. The booster is ready. Now we just have to make the final decisions on what to send.”

“I need your recommendations as regards the rover trip modifications.” 

“We have them pretty much ready to go. I will send them tonight.”

Sanders looked around.  
“In one week I want all decisions as regards the resupply finalized.”

So a scramble as the competing groups jockeyed for space on the probe. Rover people; nutrition; comforts for Watney; com gear.

At the meeting Sanders looked around. On the board was a sketch of the probe showing its capacity. Each group had to show how much they wanted. It was no surprise that not everything everyone wanted was going to fit.

“Com gear.”

“Dish and components to hook into the MAB system. Bare bones.”

Sanders nodded.  
“Put that in the probe.”

Mitch had appointed himself the one to do this and it was put on the board and the remaining capacity of the probe figured out.

“Rover.”

There was a problem; what they wanted would almost take up all the rest of the space.

“Bare bones.”

An hour of arguments cut that down by half and the board was updated.

“Nutrition.”

That was actually easy as they really did not want that much space.

“Everything else.”

A couple of things had to be left out but it was all done by 4 pm.

“That is final. Nothing will be added or taken out. Bruce get it done.”

One week later the Probe was rolled out to the launch pad from the VAB.

It would take 9 months to get to Mars – it would get there on Sol 504.

Around the world people prayed and fingers were crossed.

Mindy was at her post; nothing was going to stop her from being there. She was for all intents and purposes now the Deputy Director of SATCOM and to be blunt pretty much ran it now anyway.

A launch is beautiful and terrible at the same time; all that power; flames and smoke and noise and the rocket accelerating so fast as it leaves the tower.

Everyone around the world held their breaths as the rocket reached for the stars.

NASA had downplayed its importance somewhat but many commentators were blunt in that there was so much that could go wrong that this resupply was critical indeed.

First stage shut down and was jettisoned. Second stage lit up and it continued on.

“We have final burn of 2nd stage!”

Everyone cheered. IT would not be until the next orbit that the probes 3rd stage would fire to send it on its way to MARS. This positioning was so very vital.

One hour later came the final burn of the 3rd stage.

“Right down the middle!” cried out trajectory.

The resupply probe nicknamed Iris was on its way on a 267 day trip to Mars.

Mark sighed as he was told the launch was good and the probe on its way. He was so tired of so little communications with others.

Mindy now saw that her role in watching Mark was now also in keeping contact with him.

Mark was intrigued when told that Mindy Park had found out he was alive and had been watching him.

“So you are the first space Papparazi.”

“I guess. I like to call myself an interested observer.”

“Just how interested?”

Mindy grinned. She was not surprised that Mark was already hinting and snarking. Which was good as far as the shrinks were concerned.

“That is for me to know and you too lose sleep over.”

Mark laughed out loud.   
“Time for a description since I cannot get pictures.”

“And I know what pictures you would want. Perv.”

Mark laughed again.  
“It is not a perv move to want pics of a girl a guy is interested in.”

Mindy stopped at that. Took a deep breath. This could be taken so many ways.  
“Well you would probably be disappointed. I am pretty much a QTip with glasses. I am blond and blue eyed though.”

“I think you are being much too modest. I will expect at least a swimming suit picture after the probe lands.”

Mindy actually blushed.  
“You will be disappointed.”

“OK then how about a lingerie shot?”

Now Mindy was beet red. She knew that this was pretty secure but hackers just might be able to get in.  
“Mark, while this is pretty secure and using the system we are using its very hard, Hackers just might get this.”

Mark grinned like a shark sighting prey.  
“That would not be the only thing hard in the galaxy.”

Mindy had to giggle.  
“If you are really a good boy and eat all your vegetables, I will consider it.”

Mark was indeed hard; and he had no doubt what he would be wanking off to THAT night. 

The next few months that set the tone of their conversations; extreme double entendre’s on his part and really not all that much tamer ones on her part.

Mark had started to do some of the mods on the rovers; primarily on rover 2 as regards taking things out. There was no real hurry. He was not set to leave for almost another year.

This period was actually fairly tame on both ends; NASA had things in hand and really only had to keep up to date. Mark had his crops to attend to plus the maintenance of the HAB.

So far there had been no dust storms since the big one; and everyone had their fingers crossed on that. Mark had harvested his first real crop of everything and to everyone’s relief they were all bumper crops. More than even the most optimistic had hoped for.

Mark was extremely protective of his crops and had little patience for back seat drivers.

Mitch looked at Vincent.  
“Mark really does not like the botanists?”

“That is being polite. He almost never is as regards their suggestions.”

Teddy sighed.  
And looked at Mindy.  
“Miss Park, try and get Mark to be nicer to them. This all gets out to the public.”

“Yes sir.”

Mindy found she was having to be a buffer between NASA and Mark way too often; but she accepted it. She did not really realize it but it was clear to just about everyone that her loyalty was to Mark first.

Teddy then looked at Vincent.  
“Crops are doing better than expected?”

“Way better. And its all on Mark. Which is probably another reason those experts are not happy. No credit to them.”

Teddy was thoughtful.  
“Considering what he has to work with, the yields are startling.”

Vincent nodded.  
“Which is another reason I pushed hard for the seeds and fertilizer and all that; we will have time for one crop before he goes to ARES 4 and we all want to see how that does using all the modern items of farming.”

Mitch smirked.  
“And if that crop is below expectations even with all the bells and whistles?”

Vincent had to grin.  
“It will be VERY interesting.”

Bruce was also smiling.  
“For the first crops grown on Mars to be done so primitively and yet do so well is not going to go over well with a lot of the industries associated with farming.”

Mitch smirked bigger.  
“Especially the seed companies and fertilizer companies.”

Teddy sighed.  
“This really is not something to be looked at here but the President informed me that the UN has made a request.”

That got everyone looking.

“International Law has held for a very long time that unoccupied and unclaimed land that is tilled and farmed is considered settled and the people doing that are then entitled to claim ownership. The Various treaties as regards space were very specific about the moon but less so about Mars.” He deliberately waited; he so very few times got to stir the pot himself.

Mitch to be expected went off first.  
“Mark can claim ownership of MARS?”

Teddy shrugged.  
“It is legally murky. The President has had the Attorney General working on this; the request came actually a month before he told me about it. While Mark is an employee of the US Government, his lawyer could argue he was abandoned and thus no longer is an employee. Which there is, I have been informed, precedent both in US courts and International courts.”

They all took a moment to consider this. Vincent looked at Teddy.  
“Mark needs a lawyer. I know he does not want the planet but I am willing to bet he would love to make sure its not despoiled in the future.” He looked at Mindy who blinked and then slowly nodded.

“As much as Mark wants to come home, I feel he would really be in favor of some pretty restrictive measures as regards protecting Mars.”

Teddy nodded.  
“It’s the opinion of the President and others that this is what the UN really wants to do. For once I think they definitely have the right on something. If the world acknowledges Mark’s right to put restrictions then there will be a mechanism to act on any transgressions in the future.”

Mindy nodded.  
“I will tell him about all this and see what he really wants.”

Mitch had to smirk.  
“Declare himself the King of Mars.”

Without missing a beat Mindy says  
“He already considers himself that.”

Eyes rolled all over the room but they were accompanied by smiles.

That next morning Mindy started it off.  
“Hey King of Mars I got something to talk to you about.”

“Go right ahead, possible future consort to the king.” 

Mindy took a deep breath. Mark had been rather consistent as regards hints like this.

Hints.

More like great big honkin neon sign declarations.

Mindy was aware that she was falling for this really crazy and fun guy. But she could not know just how serious he was.

But she would hold up her end.  
“Consort. I think I am insulted.”

“Prince Phillip is technically a consort.”

“Wow I was really counting on being your Queen.”

Mark had to wonder just how interested Mindy was; he thought a lot but how to find out without hanging it all out there? He was more and more sure of how he felt but then again they had never met.

“Well, hard to do the bended knee millions of miles away. And no ring at hand either.”

Mindy thought very carefully. And decided to leave it there for this day.

“How would you like to own Mars?”

Mark blinked; Mindy had definitely dodged things. Well, there would be another day.

“Does this have something to with growing crops?”

“Sure does. And also being abandoned by your employer also factors in.”

Mark took a minute to think. And nodded to himself. He could see that. While an employee of the US Government he was definitely restricted as regards things like that while on duty with said government. But if he was not…  
“Sounds like I might need a lawyer. Where does this come from?”

“The UN. The President thinks this is about trying to protect Mars from exploitation.”

Mark sighed. He did not LOVE Mars. When he left he was not looking back and never wanted anything to do with it again.

Yet. 

He got up and looked out a window at the red landscape and sighed.

“Mindy, get me one.”

“OK.”

NASA had lawyers specializing in International Law but Mindy did not want any connection. The Attorney General recommended one and Mindy was surprised to find he came down from NYC to see her.

She met him at dinner at a very nice restaurant in Houston.

His name was Robert Pearson; he was in his late 40’s and solid looking. His suit screamed money but his manor did not. Mindy had gotten her best dress out and was very nervous yet determined.

“Ms Park, the first thing I need to know is if you are Mark Watney’s agent or something else.”

She blinked.  
“When the situation was explained to him he said get a lawyer.”

“What were his exact words?”

“Mindy, get me a lawyer.”

He nodded, clearly satisfied.  
“I will need a copy of that conversation especially that part.”

Mindy nodded.  
“All that I say to him is on the official NASA network and will be available.”

“That is both good and bad. Good in that like what he said to you about getting a lawyer and bad that anything he says on this subject will be subject a very thorough parsing of word by word.”

“I understand.”

“Make sure he understands as well. In this case it is safe to say you are an agent for Mark Watney. Now I will need a retainer; it cannot be a symbolic sum like $1 since we are talking an international court case.”

Mindy brought out her checkbook.  
“How about $5000?”

“That will be sufficient. Mark down on the comment part that this is per Mark Watney request. I will file it as such. Make it out to Williams, Johnson and Pearson Legal, LLC.”

Mindy wrote out the check as told and handed it to him. This was a substantial part of her savings since she had used all of it to put the down payment on her house but with the promotion and what she knew would be a hefty bonus at the end of the year it was not a problem. She lived well under her means all the time anyway.

She noticed he got out his briefcase and immediately filled out a receipt to her.  
“Co sign here that you got this receipt. Keep it very safe. On a case like this we will need to make sure every T is crossed and I dotted.”

Mindy nodded.

“Now I was given to understand that my job will be to argue that Mark Watney by international Law, US Law and others owns the Planet Mars and wishes to see to it that it is protected from exploitation.” He waited.

Mindy nodded.  
“Mark wants this done. It is not like he loves Mars; he hates it. But he wants things done right.”

“See to it that he talks about this and get it down on paper. This will be an important part. To show he has no intent at all to profit on this; and he is not doing it out of sentimental reasons. But principle. That will go over better in International Court then sentiment will.”

Mindy took a deep breath.  
“What do you think our chances are?”

He noted the ‘our’ and smiled inwardly.  
“Quite good I think. There is sufficient precedent in many countries. The fact that I can argue he was abandoned by his employer is another point in our favor. That negates the claim he was acting as an agent for the US.”

Mindy cocked her head.  
“Are you in this to make a name for yourself?”

He smiled, completely unoffended.  
“That is a smart question. My answer is not really in the way you might think. Publicity and all that. Not even so much in the profession. BUT a chance to see my name in the history of the legal profession for centuries and possibly millennia to come? Yes.”

Mindy slowly nodded.  
“I have heard that many lawyers ultimate career goal is to argue before the Supreme Court.”

“It is indeed. In the US that is the ultimate courtroom.”

Now he knew he was going to bring something up that the young lady would not be happy about.

“Miss Park, there is something that needs to be done. You will not like it.”

Mindy braced herself.  
“Go ahead.”

“Have Mark make a will and if he already has get it altered. This must be specifically mentioned; special provisions put in. If he does not make it back from Mars alive this will be critical.”

Mindy closed her eyes.  
‘I will NOT cry.’

He watched her and nodded to himself. He wondered if she had admitted to herself that she loved Mark Watney. He doubted it.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.  
“I understand. I will talk to Mark about it tomorrow.”

“Meanwhile I will have a document drawn up that Mark will have to agree to; that you will act as his agent on this matter until he returns to Earth. The will will be so that you will continue to do that even after his death.”

Mindy slowly nodded.  
“I know he would not want his parents ever bothered with this. They are in their 70’s and while in good health this is a very big strain on them.”

“I understand.”

Mindy sighed.  
“Mark, saw the lawyer last night.”

“How did he seem?”

“OK I think.”

“I got a feeling you are going to bring up something I will not like.”

“Got it in one. Its about your will; you did make one out right?”

“Simple thing; left everything to my parents.”

“It needs to be changed. He is going to send the suggested changes to me. Basically I will act as your agent in this matter even after your death.”

Mark was quiet.

Mindy hoped she had not caused something.

Mark hated to think of dying; mainly he knew, because of the fact that he faced it every waking moment.

He hated to think of never seeing Mindy in real life; never holding her.

Never kissing her.

Never making love to her.

And in that minute, he admitted to himself he had fallen head over heels in love with a woman he had never met.

He bore down. Deal with that later.  
“OK. Let’s get it done fast.”

Two days later they got it all prepared. Unfortunately there was a difficulty as the will needed to be signed and notarized. It could be done once there was a video link but not until then.

Mindy told the lawyer who told her he had pretty much figured that.

“Have started to contact the UN on this; feeling them out. The committee on this is mostly small countries; and enough of them see what needs to be done that I think there will be no real trouble there. As I said I expect challenges in the World Court. But once this is set up and the UN backs us I believe we will win.”

Mindy hoped it would be that simple; but figured it would not be.

The HERMES would be in Earth orbit in the next month. It would take 3 months to refit her and then ARES 4 would be on its way.

“Now the question is, do we send 5 or 6 to Mars.”

Kapoor was quick.  
“Five. The HAV can only take six so one would have to remain on HERMES and you cannot operate that ship with one person. So it needs to be put on standby.”

Mitch nodded.  
“I agree.”

He then went on to make his recommendation on who should stay behind.

There was little debate.

ARES 4 took off and HERMES left 3 days later. It was Sol 523.

The modifications to the Rovers began to take place; the RTG’s would be placed in the Cabin; Rover 2 would have the Oxygenator and Water Reclaimer. Both Oxygen tanks from the HAB would be brought along. The most difficult part was the wiring and then the hoses for refilling the oxygen tanks.

Thankfully the Rovers had been designed so that if necessary one could tow the other.

His departure would come after the last crop was harvested. While the food on the resupply would be more than enough no one was taking any chances and they had the time anyway.

The resupply would arrive 3 months before he left for the Schiaparelli Crater.

Everyone was tense in Mission control as the resupply probe entered Mars orbit. 

The programming was very precise and all had to happen as planned or the landing would be aborted.

And once again nothing went wrong and down went the resupply.

The next morning Mark took the rover out and went to the resupply pod which was even sitting upright.

He unloaded half of what was there and took it to the HAB; and that afternoon got the rest.

He spent the next day sorting it all out. And enjoying things like taking a shower with soap and shampoo. And being able to eat more rations then vegetables.

And more importantly is that he got the Sat Dish in place and the equipment powered up.

So on Sol 624 he once again had full contact with Earth. 

HERMES was due in Mars orbit on Sol 725.

Meanwhile he had planted the special seeds that had been sent along with the fertilizer. There were many interested in how well the crop using the most modern facets of farming would do.

Mindy could hardly believe that she had been doing all of this for almost 2 years. The last year had gone especially quick.

By now she and Mark were so close they were nearly finishing each others sentence.

Mindy had talked so someone who did theater and had dressed up in the lingerie of the Victorian Era and sent the picture to Mark.

He told her he almost fell of his chair laughing.

Then told her he still thought she was hot.

Mindy had gathered her courage and gone to a discrete business that specialized in Lingerie shots. A lot of women apparently liked to do this to send the photos to their boyfriends/and/or/husbands.

Mindy had a dozen shots taken and agonized over the final selection. She knew she was taking a chance that it could be hacked but she found she really did not care. Mark needed to really know what was waiting for him.

“Have something for you.”

Mark stared at the screen. Transfixed.

Mindy in a very short see through black nightie. With a big yellow bowtie on the front.

On it said

“Open when ready.”

It emphasized her long shapely legs that seemed to go on forever. IT hinted at the gentle swells of her breasts. You could just barely see the hard nipples that clearly poked out the front. It was also rather clear she was not wearing any panties. She was carefully made up.

And wearing black stiletto heels. 

Mark was truly unable to do anything for some minutes. He was so hard it was actually painful.

This beautiful young thing was HIS.

There was no doubt of that. 

Finally he replied.  
“Woman, when I have you I will never let you go. I will make you scream and you will be unable to walk when I am done.”

Mindy, blushing furiously, looked him right in the eye.  
“Promises, promises.”

“So when do I get a live demonstration?”

“When you can touch me and have me.”  
Which took all her courage to say.

They got the will taken care of; and all reports from the lawyer indicated it would take a year or so but when it got to the World Court he was very confident of the outcome.

The UN committee had come up with the recommendations; and the US Attorney General had looked them over. They were indeed very restrictive.

On Sol 699 Mark looked around at the HAB and then shut it down. For the last few days it had been powered exclusively by the solar panels as he had installed the RTG’s. The Oxygenator and Water Reclaimer had gone in several days earlier. The atmosphere inside the HAB had gotten a little thick the last day. He had taken one more shower and put on his brand new EVA suit. 

He was taking with him quite a few things; all the data and his logs and all that; plus some samples of the rocks around there and what he had found between the HAB and Pathfinder. Every day he would pause twice and take samples along the way to the Schiaparelli Crater. The samples the crew would take there would go with his back to Earth. The Geologists were already in knife fights about that collection before it was even collected.

Also the last crop of produce would go with him as well. That would be enough to feed the crew while on Mars. The crop had done well but not as good as any of the crops using the very old simple ways. Mark smirked at that. 

He got into Rover 1, took one last look and headed out. IT would take him 22 days to get to ARES 4. He would arrive several days early; allowing him to do some prep work for the crew as it landed. 

Mark drove at 25KPH for 3 hours and then stopped for 3 hours to recharge then headed out for another 3 hours before camping for the night. Each time he stopped he would take a sample and meticulously record the position. He would have 3 samples a day.

IT was very boring but at least now he had his own music as he had requested. And his own entertainment. 

The Psychologists gave their latest report.

“We have good news. Now that he is able to contact people and see their faces and they see his, he is much more relaxed. The improvement in other areas due to the supply run are also marked.” The leader paused.  
“It is also very obvious how close he has become to Mindy Park. Which is overall very good. However the major test will be once he is in contact with the ARES 4 crew who are strangers to him.”

The ARES 3 team had come home to a great deal of sympathy which they really hated. Beck and Johannsen had almost immediately gotten married and had made it clear they were done with NASA. Johannsen had considered opening her own security company but in the end went back to the NSA while Beck went into practice nearby. Vogel went back to Germany and made it clear he was staying near home from then on. Martinez was torn about trying for command of ARES 5 or packing it in.

Lewis had indeed resigned from NASA as soon as she got back. She also resigned from the NAVY. And ended up as a consultant for JPL.

Mark had made a point about contacting each one and again and again making it clear they had nothing to feel guilty about.

Yet he knew that deep inside they always would.

Just as deep inside he would always resent them for leaving him.

The journey was routine which was FINE with Mark. He was getting tired of everything. Only the dream of getting off of MARS and then back to earth and holding Mindy sustained him.

He arrived as scheduled four days before the ARES 4 team came down. He did the prep and got a lot done; more than was expected. 

The ARES 4 HAV shut down. Mark, in his rover by the HAB, watched it. Then headed to them. There was JUST enough room in the Rover but it had been decided that several of the crew would ride on the back. This way they did not have to walk to the HAB as all other teams did.

The ARES 4 team had been carefully instructed as regards Mark. Give him room; do not push for contact.

Mark found he was indeed nervous; but not as bad as he had thought it might be. He was just glad to see another face.

Major Benton Thomas was the ARES 4 commander; a Marine. He was brisk and to the point and Mark liked that.

Working quickly they got the HAB up and running before dark that day, a new record. Due to Mark getting a lot of the scut work done beforehand.

The next day they got both Rovers going. Mark had already established the weather stations.

So what normally took 4 days took only 2.

Mark found himself doing pretty well; surprising himself and pretty much everyone else.

During his trip to the ARES 4 landing site he had taken the Dish from the HAB and installed it on the Rover and thus he had com to NASA the whole time.

He fell into a routine of doing a lot of what he had done before; except not much Botany. He had just about done it all. The Hydroponics experiment was done by the Chemist/Doctor of ARES 4.

Meanwhile the crew were very appreciative at having fresh produce to eat.

It seemed like no time at all and it was Sol 34 and they were getting ready to leave.

6 days before they left his lawyer had formally presented his petition to the UN committee. This had been done so quietly no one had twigged on it.

Once again he was big news as the Committee voted overwhelmingly in his favor.

Immediately several countries challenged this in the World Court, as expected. What was not expected was that none of the countries involved in any way with a space program took part in the suit.

Mindy informed him that the lawyer considered this significant. And very much a plus in their favor.

Mark was shivering as he sat strapped in for the trip to the HERMES. He had feared for so long something would trap him forever on MARS.

Then the engines ignited and he cried.

After 2 years and 29 days Mark Watney left Mars.

The HERMES felt so familiar and yet so foreign to him. But he jumped right in as primary engineer of the ship. 

He had his first bad moment when he was in the crew section and its .75 earth gravity. Nearly twice that of Mars. IT was tough. 

The Doctor noted it.

“It is definitely a trial for him.”

It took a full month for Mark to really adjust to the heavier gravity; and virtually the entire trip back to get used to it.

Mindy as always was there for him. They had become like an old married couple; except for the good part as he put it.

How close Mindy and Mark were had gotten out not long after they had taken care of most of the work as regards the UN and the rest. But since thankfully Mindy was located in the same gated community as Lewis was; and bluntly speaking spent so much time at NASA anyway, she had little trouble.

By the time they reached earth orbit Mark was so ready for it all to end he was almost vibrating. That and the knowledge that he would soon HAVE Mindy.

Mindy was just as anxious and anticipating as Mark was. 

She would be waiting for him as he landed; she had gone into quarantine so that she would not need to wear the protective gear the others would have to.

When the Orion did its soft landing and the hatches were open Mindy was right there as Mark was the first one out. They just held each other for what seemed like endless minutes and Mark was kissing her.

They sucked face for quite a while; giving the media a lot of pictures.

The 3 days of mandatory observation and medical tests were endless to both of them.

Finally they were free. Mark had made it plain that he and Mindy would have a few days to themselves. Though he had to make the concession to Annie Montrose to do a quick news conference before leaving for Mindy’s home. Where his parents were waiting.

Mark and Mindy sat on stools next to each other holding hands and smiling blindly as pictures were taken.

Mark then smiled.  
“I want to thank everyone who helped me survive Mars. And my last word on Mars is this: whoever wants it watch out. I will be watching.” He paused.  
“And so will my kids and my kids kids. Generation after generation of Watney’s will be keeping an eye on everything done on Mars.”

Then he was going through the door of their home and he was being held by his parents and there were no words.

A few hours later he looked up as Mindy came out of the bathroom.

Wearing exactly what she had been wearing in that lingerie shot.

There was a lot of noise coming from that room for some time to come.

Mark looked at the sleeping young woman at his side; she had a small smile on her face.

He knew the one on his face was such that not even a hammer and chisel would ever remove it.

And very softly he said

FUCK YOU MARS.


End file.
